Digital Product
A product delivered digitally — such as an ebook, template, course, or software download — with zero inventory cost and near-zero cost of distribution.
A digital product is any product that exists purely as a digital file or access permission — there is nothing physical to manufacture, store, or ship. Once created, it can be sold an unlimited number of times with no additional production cost.
Types of digital products: - Templates: Notion dashboards, Canva designs, spreadsheet frameworks - Ebooks: PDF guides, how-to manuals, reference docs - Courses: Video lessons, text modules, interactive content - Software: Chrome extensions, apps, scripts, plugins - Digital art: Stock photos, illustrations, icons, print-on-demand designs - Audio: Music tracks, sound packs, voiceover recordings
Why digital products appeal to indie builders: - Zero COGS: The 1,000th sale costs the same as the 1st (bandwidth only) - Passive revenue: A product listed on Gumroad or Etsy generates sales while you sleep - Scalable: No staff, no inventory, no shipping logistics - AI-assisted creation: Claude, ChatGPT, Canva, and Suno dramatically reduce the time to create each product type
Distribution platforms: Gumroad, Etsy (for templates/art), Amazon KDP (ebooks), Teachable/Kajabi (courses), the Chrome Web Store (extensions).
Example
You create a Notion template for freelance project management using Claude to draft the structure and Canva for the cover graphic. It takes 4 hours. You list it on Gumroad for $17. Over 6 months it sells 200 copies — $3,400 in revenue with no fulfilment work.
Related terms
Passive Income
Income that continues to arrive without ongoing active work — generated by assets, products, or systems set up previously.
Affiliate
A person or company that earns a commission by referring paying customers to another business, typically through a tracked link.
MRR
Monthly Recurring Revenue — the predictable income a business earns every month from active subscriptions or retainer contracts.
SaaS
Software as a Service — software delivered over the internet on a subscription basis, where the provider hosts and maintains the product.